Thy Eternal Summer (11/15)

The Stranger woke one morning during breakfast. The family (for Jack considered himself, and was considered, one of them by this time) was in the middle of a lively conversation, a debate over who would take the most deer come hunting season, when the Stranger called from the living room. 1

“Hello?” the voice was feeble right now, but deep and gruff—the kind used to shouting commands and issuing orders and having them obeyed. “Is anyone there?” it said, and the weakness in it seemed inconsistent, even with the weak slumbering version of the man that was the only version Jack knew.2

The conversation stopped, and the entire family rose as one. Jezebel and Agatha were the first out of the kitchen and into the living room; Jack and Peter and Will clustered in the doorway, watching them. 3

“Are you all right?” asked Agatha. “Do you need anything? Don't move too fast...” This in response to the man's attempt to sit up.4

The man smiled indulgently at her, and the smile and the twinkle in his eyes (open for the first time any there had seen) made him look far less intimidating and far less the harsh master than he had before.5

“Actually,” he said. “I have to use the bathroom.” 6

Agatha stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “Oh, oh, of course. Here.” She got up, and gave him her arm and helped him up. “It's straight through there and that first door on your right,” she said.7

He returned several minutes later, looking a bit fresher and far more relaxed.8

“I suppose that over the past... however many days it has been, I have been so rude as to fail to introduce myself. I am Major General Eric Crowe, of the nation's First Infantry Division, deceased.”9

Agatha blinked, but Peter asked the question. “Deceased?”10

The man smiled. “I was marked Paid Leave until a few days ago, when all the files of registered dissenters were automatically turned to Deceased. However, because I was on leave, I was not present when the machinery of government came knocking on my door to present me with my legally resolved execution order.” He grinned, his thoughts obviously elsewhere. “I suppose they're still looking for me, somewhere. Though whoever got sent on that mission is probably, in fact, dead.”11

He studied the faces, some mystified, some amazed. “Now, I don't believe I've officially met you all yet, though I recognize that some of your caring hands are the touch I've felt in my more lucid moments, and are the reason I am standing here today.” He smiled, and looked on expectantly.12

Agatha, Jezebel, Peter, Will, Jack and Blake introduced themselves to him, one by one. The Major General made careful mental note of each of their names, repeating it over to himself to be sure he had it.13

“You can take a seat if you wish, Major General,” said Peter, doing so himself.14

“Thank you,” said the Major General. “And you may call me Eric, all of you.” He moved toward an overstuffed chair with its back to the window. “I believe I shall take this chair, if you don't mind. I hope you won't take offense when I say I've had quite enough of that couch.”15

He sat on the chair, and the rest of the family sat as well, all arrayed to face the Major General. It looked almost like a tribunal.16

“If you don't mind,” said Peter, a bit uncomfortable, but only a bit, “would you tell us about the world outside? We get the advanced WV here, but most of the stations seem to have been taken out, either by design or collaterally, and the only thing we can pick up seems to be in another language.”17

The Major General laughed. “Certainly. I'm afraid I can only tell things from my limited point of view, but I'll do what I can. 18

“If you are indeed one of the few commoners left who watch the Advanced News on the WV, you know all about the Coalition. Well, they finally made good on their promises and struck at us. Those were their missiles falling a few days ago, their planes that have been swooping overhead, their troops dropping into our cities. We answered back, with what missiles we had left, then we tried our few nukes. I don't know if any of those got through, though I find myself hoping for our sake, and that of the rest of the world, that they did. It would severely limit the ability of the enemy to strike at us more, and hinder the war in the rest of the world.19

“For you know that that goes on. It is not simply us and the Coalition that are the major world powers, though everybody on the two sides would like to think so. This spark has touched off the flame deluge that is the rest of the world; the Third Empire, the one we all fear to acknowledge, has taken center stage. The body count is just beginning to rise, and probably will for many years to come. I fear for our world, due simply to the changes of the past few days.”20

Peter nodded, bowing his head in reflection. “I am in agreement with you. But come, this is nothing we have not heard or at least guessed. What news of the aftermath? What have the paratroopers, in fact, been doing in our cities?”21

The Major General laughed. “What did the barbarians do after they brought about the fall of Rome? They have been looting, taking all that was or is of value, be it money and gold and silver and precious metals and technology—especially technology—and the best of the processed food and the women and the men.” He took a deep breath. “I believe their mission was to secure the cities for future development and occupation, but I believe as well that they have been reporting back to the effect that the cities and the countryside are too thoroughly bombed out to be worth the effort of occupying. They are mostly correct, but I believe they are exaggerating their reports. They desire to keep their governments out of here.”22

“Why?” asked Jezebel.23

“My dear,” said the Major General. “I am sure you've heard of the enormous population overcrowding prevalent in some cities here, though it is hard to truly know what it is like without having witnessed it. The crowding in some of those countries is ten times worse, and soldiers as ever are drawn from the lower classes, who get the worst bottom of the barrel parts of those situations. So they come here, and encounter a thoroughly bombed out land, practically cleared for them, where the people are afraid and are not numerous. They live like kings here, and the best of them, the strongest and smartest, may even set themselves up as robber barons. They do not want anybody coming into the land, occupying it, filling it up with people and making it like the land they were born in.24

“That is the situation in the cities, as far as I can report it. If you are strong and have survived the missiles mostly unscathed—two unlikely contingencies—you will probably be fine there, if you do not resist the word of those who are more powerful.”25

He grinned ruefully. “That was my mistake,” he said. “I resisted, and I ended up... Well...” he gestured to himself. “I got out of that city, and drove that car as far as it would go. There were, believe it or not, a few roads they missed—you couldn't get every road in this country, so they chose the ones that were main arteries, like...” he gestured in the direction of the road Jack had been bombed off of. “That one. But... that car didn't have enough gas in it to get me anywhere. 26

“I'm not a praying man. You can't be a praying man, in any way, when you work for the people I worked for. But I prayed, when I got out of that car. I prayed, and I had faith. I got picked up by some people who escaped the city, and were doing the tribal thing; they cared for me as long as they could, but they got attacked and only a few escaped. They dropped me... somewhere south of here. They were sorry, but they couldn't have done any more for me. I started walking, and when I couldn't walk any more I crawled, and when I couldn't crawl any more... some angels picked me up, and I was... I was here.”27

He looked around, threw Agatha a wink. “It's not exactly heaven, but it'll do.”28

She smiled at him. “Well, Major General Eric, we're glad you survived to tell your story.”29

He smiled back at her. “Thank you, ma'am. No offense, but you're not as glad as I am.”30

Jack couldn't help but think, You're a military man. Your military is gone, the country it served is gone. What have you left to live for?31

Peter nodded, glaring a little into his beard. “If you don't mind a rather nosy question, sir, how was the resistance going? It seemed you had them on the run.”32

The Major General grinned. “I am only sir to my men, and so to nobody any longer. As to the resistance,” a cloud passed across his face. He put his hand to his chest. A look of relief came onto his face when he felt the necklace still there. “We...” he said, obviously willing to talk but unsure where to begin. “Do you play chess, sir?” he asked Peter.33

Peter smiled. “Yes, I do.”34

“Good,” said the Major General. “The resistance was like a much diminished black side, that nevertheless had several key pieces left—its queen, say, and a rook and a bishop or two, where the white side had, say, most of its key pieces and several pawns. The black side here might threaten the white—as indeed we were threatening the establishment—but it certainly would not be said to have the advantage. And that law passing congress...” he shook his head sadly. “It was as if the white side had converted one of its pawns to another queen, and that queen were in position to cause havoc no matter where we moved our other pieces.”35

Peter nodded. “Well, you were on the side of right, and were this world as good as everyone senses it should be, you would be the victors.”36

The Major General stared at Peter for a moment, then said, “Amen, my brother.”37

One night, Jack found a Book on his bed, open to... “Isaiah,” he read from the top of the page. He picked it up, and out of old habit, he read aloud. 38

“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 39

Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 40

Then said I, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” 41

Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 42

And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 43

Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then said I, “Here am I; send me.” 44

And he said, “Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.”45

Then said I, “Lord, how long?”46

And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land. But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.”47

Jack stopped reading, finding himself unable to continue. He flipped through the book, and became fascinated with another section, before being unable to continue with it as well. He spent a couple hours wrestling with the thing, being beaten at by curses of sin and obedient prophets who obeyed God's commands despite all, and men who questioned the ways of the One who knew all.48

He heard Peter creaking along the floor to the bathroom. He went to his doorway. Peter looked up in surprise. “Jack?” he said. “How can I help you?”49

“How...” he held up the book.50

“Where did you get that?” said Peter.51

“I... It was on my bed...” he trailed off. Peter looked at him expectantly. “How do you... How do you get the Seraphim to touch your lips with the burning coal? How am I to be purified?”52

Peter put a hand on Jack's shoulder. “Through the blood of the one who died for you. Have faith in Him, and you will be saved. I'm afraid my bladder is insisting.” He continued to the bathroom.53

Jack went and lay back down. How could you have such blind faith? How could you know that this was true, and that no other explanation would satisfy? Jack slept eventually, but he slept fitfully. 54

Major General Eric Crowe, being in excellent shape as military men must be, fit well into the life of the farm. He learned the various jobs quickly, and quickly became an excellent assistant to Peter. 55

With the five men running things, Peter and Blake and Will and Jack and Major General Eric Crowe, the farm operated as well as it ever had. It was a good thing, too, for other essentials—food and water, for example—were running low, with the country's supply lines cut and everything. With the extra help, Peter was able to send out pairs of them—usually Jack and Blake—to either look for supplies that had been left (the supply truck they had found was quickly used up), or to hunt. Jack took to hunting as quickly as he had taken to guns; he made beginner's mistakes in both, but was coming along well for someone with little previous experience. 56

Jack had been taught that farm life demeaned women, reducing them to slaves and chattel, but Jezebel and Agatha seemed to work about as hard as anyone else; their work was simply confined to the house. But, he slowly came to realize, if it were not for them there, the men would never have survived. 57

One day, a horse and buggy arrived in the drive way. A man was driving it, dressed in standard farm clothes; on the back were all sorts of potentially useful knick knacks. The driver said he was in business; he collected things that people didn't need, in exchange for items of equal value from the back of his buggy. Sometimes he traded things to people in exchange for food or lodging.58

Agatha traded him some cooking utensils, in exchange for a new broom (something she had desperately needed). The man thanked her, nodded to Peter, then clucked to his horses and drove away. Peter stared after him, thinking deeply.59

“The new society is already beginning,” he said.60

Three days later, a boy from a neighboring farm ran up the driveway and banged on the door. When he could catch his breath, he reported that the man had been found clubbed to death, his horse shot, his goods strewn all over the road.61

The men gathered in Peter's living room, stony faced and silent. They were all farmers, most of them Peter's age or older, many with beards even longer and bushier than his. They surveyed each other, mostly emotionless. They stared hardest at the newcomers, Peter and Eric, who stood near the doorway, not part of the meeting.62

“Welcome,” Peter said. “You all know why we're here. I think it good, at the beginning, because we have not really had a mass gathering like this since the attack, to check in on how our various farmsteads are doing since the heavens rained.63

“If there is no objection, I will begin. Though power still seems to be on, and we have our back up generator still, neither of these things will last forever. Thus, we have mostly unplugged, and reverted to the manual way of doing things, which has not been a hard change. That said, we are doing quite well, all things considered.” He looked at the farmer next to him, a man of sixty, maybe, with a weather beaten lined face set in a sour expression, and raised his eyebrows.64

Save for a stray missile in someone's field, a few shards of debris thrown into steads, and some mild complaints about the supply lines being cut, the farmers seemed to be doing fine. They had picked up fewer stragglers than Peter's place had, and there were a few snide remarks about this and the great help Peter must be getting.65

“Now,” said Peter. “To the issue at hand. Does anyone know who could have done this? Perhaps a group of marauding teenagers, filled with hatred or simply filled with liquor? As uncomfortable a prospect as this is, I like it as an explanation more than I like any of our alternatives.”66

The issue was discussed at length. Fingers were pointed, old resentments, old stories brought up. But finally, through a haze of invective and argument, Peter managed to summarize what seemed to be the general conclusion: the marauding band of teenagers was unlikely.67

This opened up a whole new can of worms: who could have done it then, and why? What was to be done?68

It was a new age, Peter said, for all they didn't seem to have been terribly affected by it yet. It would be, in many respects, a tribal age. One could expect armed roving bands of tribal minded people to be wandering about. For one thing, it might be a good idea to start being armed at all times. But what were they, a vestige of settled agrarian people, to do?69

One option would be to band together, build a fortress perhaps. Perhaps a fort to which they could retreat in times of trouble. This was generally objected to, mainly because of the time needed to build and maintain such a structure, if it were to actually be effective. Jack suspected, though no one else did, that Peter had suggested this with his tongue in cheek.70

The next suggestion was signal fires, in the case of some kind of attack. But these, too, would be too much labor if they were to be effective. Gunshots, someone said, and the idea stuck. Three pistol shots in rapid succession, a grouping which was highly unlikely anyway unless there actually was an attack, would be the signal, and reinforcements would come running. A system was worked out—three shots from Peter's farm, and the O'Briens' place (the closest farm to them) would send the alert, and the closest farm to them would pass it on, and so forth. It wasn't a perfect system, Peter declared, but it would serve (or so he hoped).71

There were changes around the farm after that; Peter bought or traded for all the weaponry he could, so that at least one gun was close at hand in every room. Anyone going outside, even to the barn or the machine shed, was to be armed. He instated night watches, but after a week of inactivity, the watchmen rebelled and Peter relented.72

The seasons changed, the wheel rolling toward winter. The snow came down, and blanketed the earth, and was both gorgeous and dangerous for farm work. They got up in the cold dark, worked with heads down through the brief blazing sunlight, and went to bed in the cold dark. Evenings were warm by the fireplace, and occasionally Agatha could be convinced to dip into what Jack dubbed the last cauldron of hot chocolate on the face of the earth.73

Through prayers, readings, and occasional conversations, Jack was coming to understand these peoples' religion. He was also coming to understand that one could spend a lifetime on it and not understand it fully.74

Being the same age, Jack and Jezebel had a lot in common. They were quickly good friends. The adults, Jack thought, watched from the corners of their eyes, a little ruefully perhaps. They weren't sure, probably, whether the two of them were thinking of each other romantically; Jack wasn't sure himself. She was wonderful, of course, but there was still the specter of Ava... and he wasn't sure she was a specter.75

One night, when the air was crisp and the stars sharp little needle points, the moon a cold and staring face, Jack dreamt of her, of Ava. He didn't know, later, why he should have dreamt of her tonight, of all nights. But such is the inscrutable nature of the universe.76

Her face appeared first. It was a gorgeous face, he suddenly remembered, even when sad or angry or asleep. But now... Now it was twisted with pain, shot through with unbearable agony. As his view zoomed out, he saw that she was sprawled on a table, shackled with old fashioned chains, her skin sagging—she had obviously not eaten properly in a long time.77

Suddenly, her face twisted around and her mouth opened so that she could cry out. Nothing but silence poured from it, for a moment. Then a scream, a screech, a sound that could be prompted only by unendurable agony issued from it. Soon the sound of pain resolved into a recognizable sound, a single word, shouted as the name of that which gives you absolute rest, absolute peace, absolute safety:78

“Jack!” she screamed, then, “Jack!” again. Then, “Jack! Save me! You promised!”79

Jack found himself at her side, and he put his hand on her forehead and said, “I am here. I will save you. I will come for you.”80

“You're not here,” she whispered, in the heat of a feverish dream. “You lied when you promised me that! You've left me all alone!” The last came out as a wail of despair.81

“Shh,” said Jack, caressing her face. “I am here. I will come for you. You must have faith.”82

“How can I have faith?” she wailed. “How, when you cannot? How can I believe something so impossible? Even you do not believe it, you do not think you can save me. You don't.”83

Jack opened his mouth to contradict her, but closed it again. She was right, he realized. He had no idea how to get to her, no idea what had happened to her, no idea if she was even still alive.84

He wiped the tears from her face. “I will come for you, my love. We must... we must both have faith, it seems. I will if you will.”85

She looked at him, then screwed her eyes shut. “It is hard... so very hard...”86

The world faded away around them, and then Ava faded from sight, and Jack was alone, terribly alone.